In an about-face Ben Hoffmann has pleaded guilty to three murders and the manslaughter of another victim of his drug-fuelled rampage across Darwin in 2019.

November 2, 2021

A love-sick man who terrorised Darwin during a drug-fuelled shooting spree has changed his pleas and admitted killing four people – ending his trial after seven weeks.

Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann had pleaded not guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to committing four murders in less than an hour at four locations on June 4, 2019.

He’s also denied 10 other serious charges, including threatening to kill and recklessly endangering life.

But on Tuesday the 47-year-old entered guilty pleas to eight of those offences, including murdering, Hassan Baydoun, 33, Michael Sisois, 57, and Rob Courtney, 52.

He also pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the death Nigel Hellings, 75, after the prosecution agreed to accept the lesser charge.

The Crown accepted the guilty pleas “in full satisfaction” of the 14-count indictment.

This immediately ended the trial and Justice John Burns dismissed the jury.

The about-face comes days out from the start of the defence case, which was expected to argue that the jury shouldn’t find Hoffmann guilty of murder because he didn’t have a criminal state of mind when the killings happened.

The Crown had alleged that Hoffmann was searching for his ex-girlfriend, Kelly Collins, and a man she said she loved, Alex Deligiannis, during the rampage.

Hoffmann fatally shot Mr Baydoun four times at the Palms Motel in central Darwin.

Mr Hellings was shot through the front door of his apartment block about 800m away.

Hoffmann’s next victim was Mr Sisois. He was shot in the head in the car park at the nearby Buff Club bar and restaurant.

Mr Courtney died at an industrial yard at Darwin Recycling about 2.5km away.

Mr Deligiannis had previously visited three of the locations regularly.

The court has previously heard Hoffmann was high on methamphetamine during the rampage.

He was arrested after he called police and admitted one of the killings as he requested help from officers.

In the days after the shootings, Hoffmann expressed no remorse during interviews with mental health workers and admitted he may have killed innocent people.

He also remained unsure if he’d killed Mr Deligiannis and didn’t report feeling guilty during interviews but did say he was embarrassed.

Hoffmann and Ms Collins met in early 2019 in a drug rehab centre, where the pair made plans to move in together after they left the program

But two weeks before the shootings, Ms Collins sent Hoffmann a text message saying she was in love with Mr Deligiannis.

In the days after, Hoffmann repeatedly told workmates he was going to “blow (Alex’s) head off”.